Freedom in the Fall
by Plague's Vengeance
Summary: Eva Taggart; promising medic. Infamous body-modder. Stone-cold killer. Two years ago Eva was locked up for brutally murdering two Ark guardsmen. Eva's accepted her fate as inevitable by the time her 18th birthday comes around & she vows to go down kicking and screaming. Except something happens. She was being sent to the ground alongside 99 other delinquents. She was going to live…


**Full Summary: **_"__Eva Taggart; promising medic. Infamous body-modder. Stone-cold killer. Two years ago, Eva was arrested for brutally murdering two Ark guardsmen. She claimed it was in self-defense but no one would believe her, not when it was a well know, if unproven, fact that she was a member of the Ark's most notorious gang; The Bloody Devils. That, in and of itself, was a death sentence. Luckily Eva was sixteen when she was arrested, saving her from instant execution. Instead she was locked up in the Skybox where all the criminals under the age of majority were left to wait for the day they turned eighteen and were either floated, or for a rare lucky few, acquitted._

_Any hope she had of her gang's leader saving her from execution are dead and gone, her fate all but confirmed by the guards he had under his thumb over the last two years. Eva has accepted her fate as inevitable by the time her 18th birthday comes around and she vows to go down kicking and screaming when the guards come to take her. Except something happens. Something Eva never expected to happen. _

_She was being sent to the ground alongside 99 other delinquents. She was going to live…and not only that, Eva was going to make damn sure she thrived. And no one, on the ground or up in the Ark, was going to get in her way."  
_

**Decided to rewrite this because well, the original version kinda sucked. I like this much better. I hope y'all do to. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything recognizable. Also don't own the cover art, found that using google. Don't sue. Please don't steal my OCs.  
Rated T-M; mostly for language and gore. Warnings will be posted at the beginning of each chapter.**

**Warning: Some bad language**

* * *

Ninety-seven years have passed since a nuclear war devastated Earth, setting off a chain of apocalyptic events that left the surface of the planet simmering in radiation and killed nearly everyone. _Nearly. _Ninety-seven years ago, twelve nations had operational space stations orbiting the planet and that's where the survivors fled to. Together, the twelve stations formed the Ark; one station forged from the many.

On the Ark every crime was punishable by death unless you were unlucky enough to be under the age of majority then you were sent the Skybox where you rotted away until you turned eighteen. After that you were brought to trial before the Council for the crime—or _crimes_—you committed. If you were acquitted, you were allowed to rejoin society but if you found guilty of your crimes, you were executed. Jettisoned from an airlock into space to be specific. For three generations humanity has survived in space, thanks to the Ark's strict population control, resource management and their policy of capital punishment.

But the Ark is dying. And in a last ditch effort to save themselves, the Council decided to send one hundred juvenile offenders to the ground; using them as guinea pigs to test the survivability of Earth.

_I_ was one of those delinquents….

~.~.~.~.~

_Eighty-three…hold…eighty-four…hold…eighty-five…_ Eva Taggart exhaled slowly, holding the plank position she was in for a count of five before she dipped down in another pushup, chest nearly brushing the floor. She paused for a two breathes and rose smoothly. _Eighty-six…Hold…eighty-seven…hold…_

Dark brown eyes focused on the door of her cell Eva wrapped up her last set of pushups, rounding it out at an even one hundred, and jumped to her feet. She wiped the lovely layer of sweat from her face, still staring at the door, and began a series of light stretches to cool down some. It was a peculiar feeling, waiting to die.

You see, Eva lived on the Ark, a massive space station that was the last bastion of human greatness since the Earth hadn't been habitable in almost a century. It was also a place with strict laws, resource management, and _population control_ in the form of capital punishment. Unless, of course, you were under the age of majority then you were sent to the Skybox where you were held until you turned eighteen at which point you were tried before the Council and they decided whether or not you deserved to be jettisoned out of an airlock for your crimes.

Very few people were ever acquitted. And Eva already knew she wasn't going to be one of those special, rare few; not for her crimes.

It should bother her, Eva knew but it didn't. Not really. She'd had two years to get used to the idea that she was going to die young and now that the day had finally arrived, all she felt was numb. Two long, _long_, years of contemplating her death in between reading books, pacing the ten-by-ten cell, and exercising. And, when she was feeling particularly cantankerous or bored, terrorizing the guards.

Breaking up the monotony was worth getting hit with shock batons. Pain she could deal with. Boredom? Eh…not so much.

Her cell didn't have a clock, but Eva had developed a pretty good internal one at this point and she knew the guards would be coming around with morning rations soon. Except she wouldn't be getting any rations, not this time. No, this time whichever guards got stuck with the shit duty of dealing with her—she'd built up quite the reputation in the last two years—would be taking her before the Council. Which was honestly just a waste of time in her opinion; she'd killed a guard, quite creatively too, so getting floated was pretty much a given. She knew it. Everyone in the Guard knew it. The Council knew it. Giving her a trial was nothing more than a formality, a way for the Council to keep up appearances.

Eva finished her stretches. Rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck, blowing a stray curl of dark red hair out of her face. She let her mind wander as she started a set of twenty squat-front kicks with a few cross punches thrown in. She wondered if anyone would visit her when they took her to the airlock; specifically wondered if Mrs. Kane would be there because thinking about_ him_ watching her die sent uncomfortable chills down her spine. Eva hoped _he_ or Mrs. Kane wouldn't be there; the woman was one of three matrons of the space station's orphanage and the closest thing Eva had to a mother since she was twelve and both her parents were floated. She didn't even want to think about the heartbreak that would be on Mrs. Kane's face when she was forced into the airlock. As for _him_...well that just didn't bode thinking about.

Eva finished her set and paused for a moment to rest, eyes unconsciously moving to the door once again before she forced herself to turn her back on it. Apparently she wasn't as numb as she thought if the heavy knot in her stomach and the lump in her throat was any indication. Eva swallowed thickly and took a deep breath, hoping to fortify herself against the fear worming its way through her gut.

"It's okay to be afraid." Eva whispered, fists clenching and unclenching at her sides. "But don't ever let that fear overpower your mind and control you."

She repeated the familiar words quietly as she started another set of squat-front kicks and cross punches. Pretended, just for a moment, that it was her _mother _whispering them comfortingly to her after she'd had a nightmare. The knot in her stomach loosened and Eva breathed a little easier. Only to have all the air freeze like ice in her lungs when the door screeched open behind her. She froze mid-kick. It was time.

Slowly lowering her leg, Eva closed her eyes and steeled herself, pulling on the familiar mask of cocky aggression that helped her survive almost five years years in one of the Ark's most notorious gangs followed by two years in the Skybox with guards that hated her guts because she'd killed one of their own.

"Prisoner 1-1-3, turn around and face the wall." Lieutenant Coleman. Of-bloody-course. The bane of existence would never pass up the opportunity to gloat as he led her to her demise. Ugh.

Well, she was going to die anyway, might as well go out with a bang. What better way to do that than give Coleman something to remember her by? The thought made her smirk gleefully.

"Honestly, Coleman, are you blind or just that damn stupid?" Eva drawled sardonically, crossing her arms as she turned around to face him. "I was already facing the wall, dumbass."

"Shut you damn mouth Taggart, and face the wall." Cole snapped and he snatched a box from the second guard loitering in the doorway. Eva glanced between him and the box warily as he sat it on the ledge that ran along the whole right and back wall. The way he positioned himself in front of the box kept her from seeing what was inside, but Eva had a feeling she wasn't going to like whatever it was.

"Rude much?" Eva remained as she was, arms crossed and facing him. Absolutely refusing to let her unease show, she sniffed disdainfully. "Didn't your mother teach you manners, boy?"

Coleman looked over his shoulder at her an ugly scowl marred his features. "I said _turn around_ and _face the damn wall_."

The second guard flicked his shock baton open at that moment and Eva flicked her eyes towards him when she heard the whine of it activating. Sighed loudly and threw her arms up, "Fine, fine."

She turned and faced the wall, crossing her arms again and pointedly tapping her foot because she knew it would annoy Coleman which it did if the growl that came from his direction was any indication. Eva smirked and called out mockingly, "You're pretty touchy today, aren't you? What did your boyfriend find out what a scum sucking douche nozzle you are and finally kick you to the curb?"

Surprisingly he ignored her jab and she heard him all but stomp up to her. "Hold out your right arm."

_Ehh, what? _That was definitely not normal procedure; she knew, she heard someone poor bastard get floated six months into her imprisonment. All sorts of alarm bells started going off in Eva's head. She folded her arms tighter against her chest and turned to face him. Eyed the weird metal bracelet he held and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Yeah that wasn't going on her arm.

"Why?"

"Hold out your arm, Prisoner 1-1-3, now. _Or else_." Coleman snarled, advancing. Eva skipped back from him, but he continued advancing towards her, forcing her back towards her bed. Pretty soon she wouldn't have anywhere to go. She continued backing up anyway, eyes flicking between Coleman, the bracelet, and the second guard in the doorway. Well, her father had always said fortune favored the foolish. And the half-baked plan forming in her head was definitely foolishly. So of course she went with it.

"Heh, yeah, how 'bout no?" Eva quipped and feinted to the right, towards the door. Coleman lunged for her and she shied left, shoving him between the shoulders and sending him tumbling onto her bed. The second guard charged her way brandishing his shock baton. Eva sidestepped his initial swipe, twisting around him to avoid the second, and danced back towards the open door to avoid a third.

_Heh, nice try buddy. _She thought as she dodged another swipe, edging closer and closer to the door as she went. _But I've been dodging you idiots and your shock batons for two years now. I've practically turned it into an art form. _

Which was why when the second guard's next swing went wide, Eva took full advantage of it and kicked him in the chest. He went stumbling back into Coleman, who'd just managed to get to his feet, and both guards went down in a tangle of limbs and curses. Eva spared a brief moment to snicker then darted out the door...and promptly froze. All over the Skybox guards were dragging or escorting other juvenile delinquents out of cells, herding them like cattle down the walkways.

"Holy shite." Eva whispered, stunned stupid at what she was seeing. And of course her own shock—and stupidity—was precisely why she was unprepared for the sudden jolt of agony as a shock baton was pressed to the small of her back. She cried out, her knees buckling, and she crashed to the metal floor with a clang. Rough hands grabbed as she writhed in pain, flipping her on her stomach and yanking her arms back. A knee pressed into the small of back, shooting pain up her spine.

"Why do you always have to make things difficult?" Coleman growled from above her. Oh of course it was him. Damn it. Well, that's what she got for letting herself freeze up like an idiot; taken down by a dumbass with an electrified stick. Whee.

Eva groaned lowly. "Screw you, Coleman."

"No thanks," He muttered and her right arm was wrenched to the side. She felt Coleman lean down as needles pierced her skin as metal clamped around her right wrist. She hissed a sharp breath of pain and mild panic as his breath brushed the shell of her ear. "I know who's touched you, _She-Devil_."

Eva tossed her head back and felt a surge of vindictive satisfaction when she heard his nose crunch. _Ha, how do you like that for a 'fuck you?'_ Coleman jerked back with a nasty curse and Eva bucked, thrashing wildly. A hand snagged her hair and _yanked_ before shoving her head into the floor. _Hard_. Eva went limp, head ringing, and blinked stupidly at the ground.

"Knock her out!"

_Oh hell no-! _There was a soft pop of a tranq-gun being fired, followed by the stinging sensation of the darts hitting the side of her neck. _Bollocks._ Her limbs grew heavy, her head even more muddled. Darkness danced along the edge of her vision, slowly easing forward as the tranquilizer took effect.

"'M gonna kill you, Coleman." Eva growled, her words slurred.

"Yeah, yeah." Coleman grunted from far away. "You'll be lucky to survive where you're going, Taggart."

Distantly, Eva felt herself being yanked upright, but her vision was almost entirely black, and she was hanging on to consciousness by the tips of her fingers. Her last coherent thought before the tranq finally knocked her out was; _where the hell am I going?_

_~.~.~.~.~_

Holy sweet mother of God, her head _hurt_. Eva groaned and squeezed her already closed eyes tighter; damn, she hadn't had such a bad hangover since that one time Lucifer got her piss drunk off of Agro Station moonshine when she was thirteen. Eh, at least she wasn't waking up naked like then...er, she hoped. If she was, she wouldn't be surprised; Coleman was that kind of bastard.

_Okay, head hurts. Get over it. _Eva thought blearily; she always had a fucking _awful_ reaction to the Ark's tranquilizers. She pushed back the mugginess to take stock of her situation. Well, she wasn't naked, thank God, but she was sitting in an extremely uncomfortable chair with something pressing against her chest. And there was a hell of a lot of chatter going on around her, overlaying the more familiar hum of machines. Oh-kay...where the hell was she? And _what_ the hell was going on?

Eva forced her eyes, swearing colorfully when her retinas were assaulted by what was admittedly weak light, and she brought a hand up to shield her eyes. "Motherfucking fuck. _Ow_."

"And good morning to you too, Sleeping Beauty!" Laughter, deep and masculine—and damn loud—came from her left. Her head gave an angry throb, expressing great distaste at the loudmouth's...er _loudness._

"Screw you, dipstick." Eva snapped, parting her fingers just enough to peek between them at the guy. Mischievous dark brown eyes stared back at her from a handsome, open face framed by longish dark brown hair mostly hidden under a green beanie.

"Ooh, Freckles is feisty." The boy grinned at her and winked. Thrust his hand at her. "Finn."

_Freckles? Cute. _Rolling her eyes hurt but Eva did it anyway, blindly grabbing his hand with the one not currently covering her light-sensitive eyes, clasping it for a brief moment. "Eva. Don't call me freckles."

"Why not?" Finn asked cheerfully, brown eyes impish. He gestured towards his face with one hand. "You've got all those adorable freckles…"

Eva swung her free hand out and smacked him in the chest, connecting with something that wasn't only cloth. Finn made a choked sound, half groan of pain, half laugh of delight. Weirdo. Eva finally felt it was safe enough pull her hand away from her face, letting it drop to her lap. She blinked and squinted, taking a moment to look around her. Gotta be a dropship; top level if the hatch in the middle of the floor only feet from the toes of her boots was any indication. She switched her attention to the teens strapped either strapped to the wall or in seats like her; some were unconscious like she had been and the ones that weren't were either talking loudly and excitedly or panicking and trying to figure out what the hell was happening.

That was when the shift started trembling violently and the lights started flickering. Naturally, everyone began screaming in fear. Eva swore and gritted her teeth, dull throbbing coming back with a vengeance. The panicked screams subsided when it became clear the dropship _wasn't_ going to explode. Eva dropped her hands from her ears, wrapping her fingers around the harness digging into her chest.

"Must've hit the atmosphere." Finn commented, looking remarkable calm and chipper considering they were in a hundred year old dropship that had just entered Earth's atmosphere. A high pitched whine split the air following his statement, bright fluorescent lights flickering to life along with several screens dotting the walls.

"_Prisoners of Ark," _Chancellor Jaha's voice filled the dropship and Eva glanced towards the screen directly across from her, focusing on the Chancellor's visage. _"You've been given a second chance."_

Great. Eva sighed lowly and tilted her head back, focusing half-heartedly on the screen. Now she was almost wishing for fiery death.

"_And as your Chancellor, it is my hope you see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us. Indeed for mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others, but frankly we're sending you because your crimes have made you…expendable."_

"Oh no, please don't sugarcoat it. Tell us how you _really_ feel." Eva muttered caustically, rolling her eyes. Expendable, really? "Jackass."

She heard a click come from her left and turned to look at Finn, her brows shooting up to her hairline as she watched him float out of his seat. "What the _hell_ are you doing?! Get back in your seat before you die, you imbecile! The parachutes could deploy any moment!"

"Ah c'mon, Freckles. Don't be such a killjoy." Finn's grin turned to a grimace when Eva kicked him as he floated passed her on his way to the hatch. "Ow!"

"Don't call me _freckles_." She groused loud enough to be heard over the cheering teens on their level. "And what part of 'you could die' do you not understand?"

"The part that isn't any fun?" Finn quipped as he reached the hatch. He grinned and winked at Eva before grabbing the ladder and floating down to the lower level.

"Spacewalk Bandit strikes again!" Eva heard someone shout from below, followed by more laughter and cheers. Oi.

Eva rolled her eyes and shouted loudly, "Spacewalker Finn is gonna die when the parachutes deploy!"

"Killjoy!" Finn shouted back at her, the laughter clear in his voice.

"If you die, I'm telling your corpse I told you so!" Eva called down, rolling her eyes when laughter and more cheering was her only response. She muttered under her breath, "Lord save me from the testosterone fueled stupidity of teenage boys."

She refocused on Jaha's message. Her father may have always said fortune favored the foolish, but he also agreed that being prepared never hurt your chances either. Now she just had to hope she didn't die in a fiery explosion before she was able to do anything useful with said preparedness. Woof.

"_The drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain."_ The screen flickered for a moment then Jaha's image reappeared. _"It was to be stocked with enough non-perishables to sustain three hundred people for up to two years."_

"Hey, you two, stay put if you want to live."

Oh no. No, no, no. Please for the love of God, don't let that be who Eva thought it was. She'd rather be floated or killed in an explosion than be stuck on the ground with _her_. The fact that more idiots were trying to be 'Spacewalkers' like her new buddy didn't even cross her mind. The dropship shook some more, yanking Eva attention from her fervent wishing that the _other_ bane of her existence was back on the Ark where she belonged.

She paled and grimaced as the jostling increased. Took a deep breath and closed her eyes, gripping the harness so tightly her nails dug into her palms. Strangely when compared to death by fiery inferno, being ejected out of an airlock into the vastness of space didn't seem so bad. Peaceful almost, like dying in your sleep.

"_Mount Weather is life. You must locate those supplies immediately. You one responsibility is to stay alive."_

Eva blocked Chancellor Jaha's voice out. He wasn't saying anything helpful anymore, so there was no point in listening. His voice grated on her nerves anyway. She focused on keeping her breathing even and stopping the panic that threatened to choke her from building. It was easier said than done as the ship's shaking became more violent.

"Stay in your seats!"

Eva wanted to groan; oh yeah, she'd recognize that bossy tone anywhere. _Fuck my life. _

Just as that thought crossed her mind, the dropship jerked violently, jerking Eva forward roughly. The harness bit in her chest, crushing her fingers against her boobs and no doubt leaving some lovely marks that would bloom into a patina of bruises later. A thunderous crash came from the next level followed by panicked screams. Smoke wafted up through the hatch causing the people nearest to it to start coughing, Eva included.

"Finn?" Eva tried to wave some of the smoke from her face, nose wrinkling. "You alive, mate?"

No response other than more freaked out cries from below. Bollocks. Well, Eva hoped his was alive; it would totally suck if the first person—outside that asshole Coleman—outside of her prison cell died after only one conversation. Sucking in a deep breath, Eva leaned back in her seat and gripped the harness tightly as the dropship continued to shake violently; lights flickered, a panel in the ceiling crashed to the floor, bouncing off the hatch. Wires fell from the exposed hole, dropping sparks. Screams, crying, and even praying created an orchestra of fear all around her. Eva didn't bother screaming or crying or praying; yes, she was just as scared shitless as the rest of the delinquents but if they were going to die, they were going to die. There was nothing she or anyone else could do about that. Still…

"It's okay to be afraid." Eva murmured, tilting her head back and closing her eyes. The ship jolted with the sound of tortured metal and she gritted her teeth as she was thrown forward, harness biting into her torso. "But don't ever let that fear overpower your mind and control you."

There was a dull crash and the ship stopped shaking. Eva exhaled slowly and forced her eyes to open and saw gloomy darkness; the lights had blown. The dropship went completely silent, no one even daring to breath, waiting to see if the dropship would explode. Eva held her breath with them, her beating loudly in her ears but despite that she still noticed the distinct lack of humming machines. Which either meant the dropship had landed or…well, Eva wasn't really sure what else that could mean.

Eh, you know what they say; no guts, no glory.

Eva released her death grip on her harness and fiddled with the buckles, clicking the open.

"What are you doing?" A girl hissed from somewhere to Eva's right.

"If I'm going to die, I'm gonna do it standing up." Eva muttered loudly without looking in the direction of the voice. And stand up she did, stretching her arms above her head and arching her back with a low groan as her spine popped. The lights flickered back on, illuminating the level dimly.

Slowly, but with a certain amount of eagerness as they began chattering and laughing with the sheer relief of being alive, the other delinquents on her level of the dropship began unbuckling themselves. Eva left them to it, swinging her legs over the hatch and sliding down the ladder to the next level.

Eva could understand the relief, she was pretty damn happy to be alive herself, but at the moment she was a wee bit concerned that her Spacewalker buddy had gotten himself killed just like she said he would.

"The outer door is on the lower level! Let's go!" Some guy shouted and shouldered past Eva, scrambling down the ladder to the ground floor.

Eva barely managed to get out of the way as a sea of excited teenagers converged on the ladders leading down to the ground floor. Assholes.

"No! We can't just open the doors!" Eva's eyes widened and she ducked behind a row of seats as Clarke-fucking-Griffin surged from where she was crouching by some busted pipes. She watched the blonde bane of her existence hurry down the ladder to the first floor, protesting loudly the entire way.

Eva rolled her eyes and straightened; nice to know some things haven't changed. She couldn't even begin to imagine what someone as straight-laced and uptight as Clarke Griffin had done to get arrested. Eva wandered over to the busted pipes and spotted Finn, sans his beanie and impish smile, crouching there…right next to a body. _Well shite. _

Grimacing, Eva kneeled next to Finn and reached out, pressing her fingers to the limp boy's neck to feel for a pulse even though she already knew she wasn't going to find one. Sighed and pulled her hand away, placing it in her lap. She didn't bother to check the other body two or so feet away; he wasn't moving either. Besides if those pipes were any indication, Eva was betting the boys had decided to follow Spacewalker Finn's example and got out of their seats; parachutes deploy, they crash into the pipes, and wham-bam-broken neck and or spines.

Finn rocked back on his heels and rubbed his face. "I was just having fun. I didn't-I didn't…"

_Mean for this to happen, yeah. _Sadly hindsight was twenty-twenty. Eva pursed her lip and hesitantly placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I doubt it'll make you feel better but it probably happened quick."

Finn let his hands drop from his face, grimacing a little. Shot her a weary look of amusement. "You're right, that doesn't make me feel better. But thanks anyway, Freckles."

"Yeah well, there's nothing we can do for them." Eva shrugged and got to her feet, dusting her hands off with feigned nonchalance. Held one out for Finn to grab. "Sounds like something interesting's going on down below."

Which was sort of a lie since Eva didn't particularly find listening to Clarke argue loudly with someone _interesting_, but it served as a good way to distract Finn from some serious survivor's guilt. Finn stared at the dead boy for a long moment, and sighing quietly, he grabbed her hand. Eva pulled him up and dropped his hand as soon as he was on his feet, turning and leading the way to the ladders.

You know, when Eva heard the phrase _like sardines in a can_, she highly doubted a hundred teenagers crammed into a relatively small space wasn't exactly what the person who invented the saying had in mind. But it was certainly an apt description of the ground floor of the dropship.

Eva paused halfway down the ladder she was one and eyed the crowd distastefully. _Yeaaah,_ she was just gonna stay right here on her ladder, thank you very much. Staying on the ladder provided her with a much better vantage point anyway; she was tall for a girl but even she couldn't see over that many heads.

"I'm serious!" And that was Clarke, right at the front of the crowd near the doors. Standing toe-to-toe with a guy in a guard's uniform. Oh joy. What the hell was a guard doing in this deathtrap? An even better question, what the hell did he _do_ to get on this deathtrap?

On the ladder across from her, Finn focused on Clarke like a fox sighting a chicken. A delighted grin slashed his handsome face and he slid the rest of the way down the ladder, wiggling through the crowd towards the front. Aw, Spacewalker had a crush on the Princess. How cute. _Not_. Clarke was going to eat him for lunch.

"And like I said before." The guard snapped with obvious annoyance. "Even if the air is toxic, we're dead anyway. How much _air_ do you think is in this piece of shit?"

Not a lot considering all the hot air being thrown around. Eva wisely kept that comment to herself; no need to draw Clarke's attention to her while they were in an enclosed space. That would just not end well for anyone.

"That-!"

"Bellamy?" A petite girl with dark hair and olive skinned forced her way through the crowd. Brushed past a now silent Clarke and came to a stop in front of the guard. "What are you _doing_ here?"

The guard smiled at the girl, reaching out to brush hair from her face. "My God, look how big you are."

"That's the girl they hid under the floor." A boy standing under Eva's ladder whispered to a girl next to him. Eva's brows jumped to her hairline; hidden kids were usually _second_ children. And on the Ark, having more than one brat was a death sentence for not only the kid, but the parents too.

The girl laughed and threw herself at the guard, embracing him tightly. The other teens went quiet, watching what was obviously a tender moment. And considering the guard's broad shoulders straining against his uniform shirt…heh, no one really wanted to try to interrupt it.

"What the hell are you wearing?" The girl asked after she had finally let the man go and she tugged on the sleeve of his jacket. "A guard's uniform?"

"I borrowed it to get on the dropship." Bellamy explained, looking around in an almost wary manner; yeah, _borrowed it_, right and Eva was part of the Eden Tree Church back on the Ark. Bellamy refocused on the girl and bumped her chin with his knuckles, smiling playfully sending several girls near the front swooning. "Someone's gotta keep an eye on you, O."

The girl scoffed but hugged Bellamy again, causing him to laugh as he more than happily embraced her in return. Eva sighed because as touching as this little reunion was, Eva wanted _out of the damn ship_. Drawing Clarke's unwanted attention be _damned_.

"Yo!" Eva called out loudly, waving sarcastically from her spot on the ladder as literally everyone turned to look at her. She heard Clarke exclaim her name but ignored her in favor of wiggling her fingers at the guard and the girl at the front. "This…whatever it is, is touching and all, but can someone open the damn doors already?"

"Do you _mind?" _The girl scowled something fierce. "I haven't seen my brother in a year."

"Whoop-di-fuckin'-do, love. I've been a cell for almost _three_." A slight stretch of the truth, but eh, whatever. "You can kiss and hug and do all sorts of sibling things _outside_."

"Hey, nobody has siblings!"

"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor!" That shout came from the girl standing next to the guy who'd whispered about the girl being hidden in the floor earlier.

The girl tried to lunge back into the crowd with a murderous expression but her _brother_ grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Octavia. Octavia, no." He scolded, tugging her towards him. His eyes flicked towards Eva and he smirked a little before looking back at his sister. "Why don't we give them something else to remember you by?"

"Yeah?" Octavia barked angrily. She turned towards her brother, yanking her arm out of his grasp, and folded them over her chest. "Like _what?"_

Another smirk flashed Eva's way. "Like being the first person on the ground in a hundred years."

"Now you're talking, mate!" Eva whooped, looping an arm through a rung, and clapped her hands. Bellamy glanced at her, amusement on his face, and grabbed the lever that would open the door. He shot a quick look at his sister then pulled the lever down. Eva leaned forward eagerly as the door lowered with a pneumatic hiss, steam blowing out the sides.

Bright light flooded the dropship momentarily blinding everyone. Eva shaded her eyes with a hand and squinted; sunlight, _real _sunlight. Holy shite. She lowered her hand when her eyes grew accustomed to the unfamiliar brightness of real goddamn _sunlight_ and gawked; color, so much color. It was everywhere and so vibrant it hurt Eva's eyes; her father's books didn't do the Earth justice. Not by a long shot.

Air, sweet and pure, wafted into the dropship. Eva sucked in a deep breath, giddiness flooding her at the freshness of it. The air on the Ark was stale and dry, but the air on the ground…Eva couldn't even begin to describe it. But it was _marvelous_. Her eyes fluttered shut and she simply let herself breathe in the wonderful smell of dirt and sunlight and growing things for a few heartbeats. Opened them and snapped them towards Octavia standing just inside the dropship, silhouetted in sunlight.

"Well?" Eva hollered and smirked, motioning for the girl to get a move on when she glanced over her shoulder. "_Go!_"

A grin, so similar to her brother's, flashed across the girl's face and she turned and took that first step out onto the ramp made by the door. Everyone held their breath and time stood still as they all watched the girl who'd been hidden in the floor pause at the bottom of the ramp.

Octavia hesitated and glanced back, eyes searching out Bellamy. He nodded encouragingly and Octavia looked back at the forest. Tilted her head back, took a deep breath and stepped off the ramp. Eva heard her gasp of surprise from the back and she nearly danced on the ladder, antsy to go running through those trees. Seconds passed then Octavia threw her arms in the air, tossed her head back and shouted as loudly as she could.

"We're back bitches!"

Eva stilled then laughed under her breath; ninety-seven years since a human being has been on the Earth and the first words spoken were _'We're back bitches'. _Eva's father would have died laughing if he had to write that down in the history books.

And like the proverbial floodgates, the rest of the delinquents surged out of the dropship with excited whoops, shouts, and cheers before the last echoes of Octavia's triumphant cry had faded, leaving Clarke and Eva the only ones left inside.

A smile tugging at her lips, Eva slid down the ladder. Her boots hit the floor with a dull, metallic thud, and tucking her hands in her front pockets, she sauntered passed Clarke with even glancing in her direction. She paused on the ramp, took a deep breath of fresh air, and closed her eyes. Tilted her head back and just reveled in being alive.

Eva snapped her eyes open, and tossing her head back, she let out a wild whoop and sprinted to the trees as if her boots had wings.

She was _alive_. She was on the _ground_.

Eva had to hand it to Chancellor Jaha and the rest of the Council; this was one _hell _of an eighteenth birthday present.


End file.
